A Day in Los Angeles with Blitz's Riz Walker

By Julia Gamolina

Riz Walker is a multi-scale designer and strategist implementing urban design thinking to interior design, specifically for workplace interiors and campuses. She’s the Blitz Los Angeles Studio Leader, providing the design direction, staff mentorship and relationship management required as an active part of the Southern California design community. Riz is a Design Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles currently teaching graphic storytelling, analysis and how to present design work verbally. Her day involves heading to Culver City, breath work with Kristin McGee, material palette planning with Polo & Pan, and a late-night drawing session.

8:00am: I wake up to my dog alarm clock wanting breakfast, so I feed Remy and curl back into bed with my phone, reading the news and scrolling through Instagram for some inspiration. When my real alarm goes off (I am not a morning person!) I do the bare minimum to “get ready” and hop in front of my computer for my first kick off call with the full Blitz team to start the work day, green tea in hand.

9:00am: I have a quick check-in with the internal project team to verify tasks on and answer any questions for our current project. The client team is going to be in town in two weeks, so we need to adjust meetings and bring the entire design team to town so we can meet in person at Blitz office - yay! After adding procure snacks, lunch and wine to my to-do-list, I go for a neighborhood walk with the pup while on a fun call with a furniture dealer about sourcing.

10:00am: I pack up all the new samples acquired and jump in the car to head to Culver City, Rem in tow. It’s a beautiful day in LA to open up the sliding doors of the studio for some air and sunlight. I’m excited to share this space with our new hires in the coming weeks! I miss the buzz of a full office and the face-to-face collaboration. The walk through the landscape of finishes laid out to reinvigorate my brain and pick up where I left off the day before.

11:00am: I change my shoes and am out the door for lunch with a GC team at a favorite spot. I’m not taking calls in the car today, so I turn the volume up on my pump-up playlist and check out Amazon Studios under construction along the way — what a transformation. I’m thinking about how the buildings in the surrounding area could push and pull to connect with the street and pedestrians better. I arrive early, so I fire off a couple Slack messages and emails. My first choice for lunch is closed, but great news, more spots are opening up again. I put out a quick fire via email then put my phone on ‘do not disturb’ to focus on my lunch dates. I’m starving! It’s a burger day.

1:30pm: Lunch ran long, but it was worth it. We had a great conversation about what comes next in the design process after learning all these extra adaptive qualities from Covid-19 and how they are addressing labor shortages. I head back to the studio for my next call, on which we’re arranging mock-ups to move from Jersey to Milan because of new Covid-related lead times. While on with folks in Italy, a baby bird flies into the studio, ah! Rem thinks the bird is a new toy, so I have a few exciting moments helping the bird outside, controlling the dog and finishing my phone call. Next, I sit on the floor of the conference room for 10 minutes of breath work with Kristin McGee to reset. I cannot wait for my weekly acupuncture Saturday.

3:00pm: I’ve got some time to focus now, so I concentrate on my latest materials palette with Polo & Pan on repeat. After an extended call with a colleague around furniture schedules and a quick therapy session (for me), all the ideas that have been bouncing around for this new space came together just in time to take a photo before the sunset. So high on excitement from this palette, that I threw up a post to my followers on Instagram.

7:00pm: I’m closing up shop for the night. Rem is ready to go home (and eat) and so am I. Have some design work to play with tonight, so I’m thinking I’ll make a reservation down the street and bring my notebook to sketch while I eat. Quick call with Mom then a dog walk after dinner with some jazz on my headphones. I love music, it warms my soul.

10:00pm: My evening winds down with a cuddle with Rem and an episode of Call my Agent! I check my email for the last time and take a quick peek at tomorrow’s schedule. I’m planning on going to the Row tomorrow, one of my favorite places to get inspired and daydream. Finally, I review sketches from earlier and make some notes.

12:00am: The house is quiet. The moon is bright. I light a candle and relax and think. Rem is asleep on the bed in the other room. I have the world to myself. I draw whatever comes out of me onto the trace I keep on my dining table. After the stimulation of owning my own direction, my own thoughts and my own time dies down, I go through my goodnight rituals. I switch my phone to meditation and drift off to sleep dreaming of colors, textures, shapes and sounds which fuel my next day of creating.